8 Washington may hurt sewers, papers say

Updated 9:35 pm, Monday, March 11, 2013

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

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K.J. Woods Construction workers Rodolfo Arvizu(R) and his brother Fernando Arvizu fill in a hole where a sewer main is being replaced. Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013.

K.J. Woods Construction workers Rodolfo Arvizu(R) and his brother Fernando Arvizu fill in a hole where a sewer main is being replaced. Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC

Workers at Drumm and Washington streets replace a sewer main serving the Financial District.

Workers at Drumm and Washington streets replace a sewer main serving the Financial District.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Image 3 of 5

Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013.

Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Image 4 of 5

Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013.

Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Image 5 of 5

K.J. Woods Construction workers Rodolfo Arvizu(L) and his brother Fernando Arvizu fill in a hole where a sewer main is being replaced. Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC sewage main that serves the Financial District and South Beach areas in San Francisco, CA Monday March 11th, 2013. less

K.J. Woods Construction workers Rodolfo Arvizu(L) and his brother Fernando Arvizu fill in a hole where a sewer main is being replaced. Work is in progress at Drumm St. and Washington St. to replace a SFPUC ... more

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

8 Washington may hurt sewers, papers say

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A politically freighted luxury condominium project near San Francisco's Ferry Building could threaten the city's sewer system - both during construction and in the event of a major earthquake - if built as currently planned, city documents show.

The 8 Washington project - which would replace a Port of San Francisco-owned parking lot and a private health club with a 12-story condominium building, rebuilt health club, underground parking garage and other features - would come within 6 feet of a pressurized sewer pipeline and other sewer infrastructure that serve North Beach, the Marina, the Financial District and Chinatown, according to city documents.

Other parts of the sewer system, including two underground vaults and an overflow structure, would also be at risk, according to a Feb. 22 draft report by an outside engineer hired by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

"These utilities are susceptible to damage ... that can be caused by the (8 Washington) construction," wrote William Bergeson, an engineer with AECOM.

Warning of liability

After construction, the project "may also adversely affect the existing SFPUC facilities due to the seismic response of the completed building," and "there may be increased liability for the SFPUC due to an unforeseen force main rupture since the completed building is in very close proximity," Bergeson wrote.

The pipeline and its related network carry about one-fourth of the city's sewage, PUC spokesman Tyrone Jue said.

The developer, San Francisco Waterfront Partners, and PUC officials say they are keenly aware of the risks and will draft a separate, binding agreement governing construction to protect the city's assets, even as legislation that will, among other things, give the developer rights to the utility's sewer easement goes before the Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday.

"Seismic concerns and safety concerns will have to be addressed, or no one gets a building permit," said P.J. Johnston, a spokesman for Waterfront Partners, which is led by Simon Snellgrove.

Neighbors opposed to the 134-unit development, though, accuse the city of trying to force aspects of the project through ahead of a voter referendum on it in November.

"Something here clearly stinks," said Jon Golinger, campaign director for No Wall on the Waterfront effort to halt the project over its height. "They're trying to ram through aspects of the 8 Washington project while putting at risk a huge sewer main."

Engineer's concerns

Internal e-mails show that a city engineer was concerned about the impact of construction on the sewer.

"I believe that we are all ... in agreement that constructing the building 4 ft away from a 100 yrs old box sewer will have short term and possible long term impact on our asset," city project manager Saed Toloui wrote in a Nov. 20, 2012, e-mail to colleagues, including Harlan Kelly, general manager of the city's Public Utilities Commission.

As 8 Washington's environmental impact study was being revisited after the developer proposed some "minor modifications," including allowing the building to encroach 6 feet onto the sewer easement in exchange for providing the city with a new easement elsewhere, Michael Carlin, the deputy general manager at the PUC, wrote to planning officials asking them to "expedite" the environmental study.

City's addendum

The same day, Feb. 20, the City Planning Department issued its addendum to the environmental study, which found "no new information that shows the modified project would cause new significant environmental impacts that were not already analyzed."

Bergeson's draft report outlining the sewer risks, which the Public Utilities Commission paid $105,000 for, was completed two days later.

"I think it pretty clearly shows that someone was trying to pre-empt the independent judgment of their own experts and short-circuit the approval process before any negative aspects came to light," Golinger said.

Others disputed that. While Carlin didn't return a call seeking comment, Jue, the PUC's spokesman, said there was no need to wait for Bergeson's report because the environmental review already included language saying that the easement transfer was conditioned on a future written agreement with the developer giving the city approval of the project plans and construction methods, and setting conditions "to avoid adverse impacts."

Chiu seeks hearing

The legislation would also clean up and improve several easement issues, Jue said.

"As usual, opponents of the project are trying to conflate issues," Johnston said.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who voted against the 8 Washington project, which is in his district, said he will call for a hearing at the board.

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